Events (Mershon Center for International Security Studies)http://hdl.handle.net/1811/29319
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 20:40:55 GMT2015-08-02T20:40:55ZMilitary Frontiers: a Graduate Student Symposium, International Security in Three Parts: Poniard, Pen and Politicianhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/71067
Military Frontiers: a Graduate Student Symposium, International Security in Three Parts: Poniard, Pen and Politician
Curzon, Daniel; Watson, Mason
This iteration of the Military Frontiers series of graduate student symposiums focuses on expanding the boundaries from previous conferences. This symposium will feature interdisciplinary panels whose wide array of thematic topics meet through their analysis of change in power structures. The graduate student presenters cover a breadth of history. The topics range from secret interwar period treaties between Germany and the Soviet Union to state formation during civil wars to the efficacy of drone strikes. Parties interested in military or diplomatic history, or political science are encouraged to attend and help our presenters achieve a wider perspective on their project.
Fri, 01 May 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/710672015-05-01T00:00:00ZCurzon, DanielWatson, MasonMaking the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Orderhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70900
Making the Unipolar Moment: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Rise of the Post-Cold War Order
Brands, Hal
Hal Brands is assistant professor at the Sanford School of Public Policy at Duke University. He is a historian whose research focuses on U.S. foreign policy and grand strategy, Cold War history, Latin American security and diplomacy, and other strategic and military issues. He previously worked at the Institute for Defense Analyses outside of Washington, D.C., and has served as a member of the RAND Corporation Grand Strategy Advisory Board. At Duke, he is an affiliate of the Duke Program in American Grand Strategy and serves on the Executive Board of the Triangle Institute for Security Studies.
Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/709002015-04-30T00:00:00ZBrands, HalThe Political Economy of International Securityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70899
The Political Economy of International Security
Brooks, Stephan
The premium on thinking carefully about how economic factors can influence security affairs has arguably never been greater. This presentation will delineate why our underlying understanding of the role of economics in international relations is inadequate and how this can be rectified.
Wed, 22 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708992015-04-22T00:00:00ZBrooks, StephanThe Democratic Legitimacy of Border Coercion: Freedom of Association, Territorial Dominion, and Self-Defensehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70898
The Democratic Legitimacy of Border Coercion: Freedom of Association, Territorial Dominion, and Self-Defense
Abizadeh, Arash
According to the democratic borders thesis, a state's regime of border control is democratically legitimate only if the laws governing it result from political processes in which both citizens and foreigners can participate. This is because, to be democratically legitimate, the (coercive) exercise of political power must be democratically justified to all subject to it; and both citizens and foreigners are subject to a polity's regime of border control. Abizadeh defends this thesis against three objections. First, it might be argued that legitimate states have the right to close their borders thanks to a collective right of freedom of association, grounded in self-determination. He argues that such an argument, while grounding a negative claim-right against coercively imposed association, fails to establish a liberty-right to coerce others to prevent unwelcome association. Moreover, it misconstrues the proper collective subject of a right of self-determination: not only the persons whom state agents recognize as members, but all persons subject to the coercive exercise of political power. Second, one might object that citizens enjoy rights of dominion over the territory of their state, and may thus unilaterally refuse entry to foreigners. Abizadeh responds that just as property laws, to be democratically legitimate, require democratic justification to those subject to them, so too must democratically legitimate border laws. Finally, one may object that the coercive exercise of political power may sometimes be legitimate even if not democratically legitimate. He concedes this, but argues that the lack of democratic legitimacy imposes dynamic duties to enable democratic legitimization in the future.
Mon, 20 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708982015-04-20T00:00:00ZAbizadeh, ArashMechanisms of Morality: Why the U.S. Public Supports Humanitarian Interventionshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70897
Mechanisms of Morality: Why the U.S. Public Supports Humanitarian Interventions
Kreps, Sarah
This research investigates public attitudes towards humanitarian intervention, first whether support is higher than alternative uses of force, and second how much the humanitarian aspect of these interventions matter relative to other characteristics such as multilateralism and strategic interests. It answers these questions with a survey experiment that compares support for humanitarian intervention with baseline intervention scenarios and also probes the mechanisms through which humanitarian interventions generate support.We develop and test three categories of mechanisms: 1) internalized humanitarian norms, 2) instrumental signals about risk and cost, and 3) strategic interests. Our findings suggest that the public is more favorably disposed toward humanitarian intervention, with most of that increase in support resulting from the view that there is a moral obligation to intervene to defend women and children, which offers support for the internalization of norms mechanism. Perceptions that humanitarian intervention will be either less costly or have important strategic consequences were far less consequential.The findings have important implications for theories about post-Cold War intervention norms as well as for the circumstances under which states use military force.
Wed, 15 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708972015-04-15T00:00:00ZKreps, SarahConservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy Under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reaganhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70896
Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy Under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan
Nau, Henry
Henry R. Nau holds a bachelor's in economics, politics and science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and master's and doctoral degrees from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. His latest book, Conservative Internationalism: Armed Diplomacy Under Jefferson, Polk, Truman, and Reagan, was published August 2013 by Princeton University Press.
Fri, 10 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708962015-04-10T00:00:00ZNau, HenryThe Adaptive Challenge of Climate Change: How Do We Make a Quantum Leap to Sustainability?http://hdl.handle.net/1811/70895
The Adaptive Challenge of Climate Change: How Do We Make a Quantum Leap to Sustainability?
Leichenko, Robin; O'Brien, Karen
Robin Leichenko and Karen O'Brien will discuss climate change in the context of globalization and its implications for equity and human security, including the types of responses that can lead to an equitable and sustainable future. Drawing on recent IPCC reports, they argue that "bending the curves" calls for more than technical solutions -- it calls for challenging some key assumptions about social change. The adaptive challenge of climate change may, in fact, call for the transformation of science itself, including the role that the social sciences play in integrated global change research.
Tue, 08 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708952014-04-08T00:00:00ZLeichenko, RobinO'Brien, KarenA New Cold War? Politics, Policies, and Consequenceshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70894
A New Cold War? Politics, Policies, and Consequences
Rudesil, Dakota; Hudson, Gerry; Herrmann, Richard
Following the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation in early 2014, the crisis in Ukraine persists as fighting between the army and pro-Russian separatist rebels continues. The European Union and United States have responded by announcing new sanctions against Russia and negotiating a ceasefire, which was violated just five days after its inception. The outcome of the conflict remains to be seen, though the issues at hand, including economic trade and arms control difficulties, are reminiscent of former conflicts between Russia and the West. This calls to question, should this recent collapse in relations be considered "a New Cold War"?
Tue, 07 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708942015-04-07T00:00:00ZRudesil, DakotaHudson, GerryHerrmann, RichardLegitimating Alien Rulehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70893
Legitimating Alien Rule
Hechter, Michael
In his talk, Hechter suggests that alien rule can become legitimate to the extent that it provides governance that is both effective and fair. Governance is effective to the degree that citizens have access to an expanding economy and an ample supply of culturally appropriate collective goods. Governance is fair to the degree that rulers act according to the strictures of procedural justice. These twin conditions help account for the legitimization of alien rulers in organizations of markedly different scales. These principles to the legitimization of alien rulers in states (the Republic of Genoa, 19th and 20th century China, and modern Iraq), colonies (Taiwan and Korea under Japanese rule), and occupation regimes, as well as in less encompassing organizations such as universities (academic receivership), corporations (mergers and acquisitions), and stepfamilies. Finally, Hechter will speculate about the possibility of an international market in governance services.
Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708932015-04-02T00:00:00ZHechter, MichaelThe Cold War's Killing Fieldshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70892
The Cold War's Killing Fields
Chamberlin, Paul
Chamberlin will examine the darker side of the superpower struggle: a vast, bloody conflict fought to prevent nuclear war, mark out the boundaries of the American and Soviet empires, and decide the fate of societies throughout the developing world. The Cold War tore through the Third World as a series of military interventions, proxy wars, and violent revolutions – a nearly unbroken chain of violence between 1945 and 1990 that left some 15 million dead.
Fri, 27 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708922015-03-27T00:00:00ZChamberlin, PaulThe Continent of International Law: (Im)precision and Reservationshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70891
The Continent of International Law: (Im)precision and Reservations
Koremenos, Barbara
Barbara Koremenos is an associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Koremenos focuses on how international law can be structured to make international cooperation most successful. Theoretically, she develops hypotheses about how details of international law help countries confront harsh international political realities, and thereby increase the incidence and robustness of international cooperation. Empirically, she introduces systematic testing of hypotheses, featuring the only dataset that employs a random sample of agreements across the issue areas of economics, environment, human rights, and security.
Thu, 12 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708912015-03-12T00:00:00ZKoremenos, BarbaraThe Wisdom of Crowds and the Stupidity of Herdshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70890
The Wisdom of Crowds and the Stupidity of Herds
Zeckhauser, Richard
Richard Zeckhauser is the Frank P. Ramsey Professor of Political Economy at Harvard University. He pioneered the field of policy analysis and currently addresses an array of policy areas where uncertainty plays a major role. His seminal contributions to decision theory and behavioral economics include the concepts of status quo bias, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and the analytics of ignorance. He came in first (Mixed Pairs, 2007), second (Mixed Teams, 2003 and 2012), and third (Open Pairs, 2004) in recent national contract bridge championships.
Wed, 11 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708902015-03-11T00:00:00ZZeckhauser, RichardCentral Intelligence before the CIAhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70889
Central Intelligence before the CIA
Cullather, Nick
"Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free," reads the inscription in the lobby of CIA headquarters in Langley. But how does one produce truth, what constitutes knowing, and who, exactly, is Ye? These questions preoccupied early theorists of "central intelligence," an idea that gave rise to an agency. This talk will examine the mid-century modernist ambition for a streamlined, rationalized flow of information that would remove the guesswork from foreign policy. The CIA is often seen as culminating an espionage tradition going back to Nathan Hale, but its intellectual origins have a closer kinship to Esperanto, IR theory, University Microfilms International, and other utopian schemes for comprehending a complex and violent world.
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708892015-03-02T00:00:00ZCullather, NickThe Iran-Iraq War: The War No One Knows Abouthttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70888
The Iran-Iraq War: The War No One Knows About
Murray, Williamson
Murray will provide a brief discussion about the Iran-Iraq War in which nearly 1 million Arabs, Kurds, and Iranians perished. The talk will examine the course and consequences of the most costly war in the past 35 years.
Thu, 26 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708882015-02-26T00:00:00ZMurray, WilliamsonClimate Change: A Threat to the Waning of Warhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70887
Climate Change: A Threat to the Waning of War
Gleditsch, Nils Petter
War remains a major threat to human security. However, despite many recent dramatic events, war is on the wane as a tool in human affairs. The number of ongoing armed conflicts, the lethality of war as measured by annual battle-deaths, and the incidence of genocide and politicide and other forms of one-sided violence are all declining.Scholars have outlined various possible challenges to the continued waning of war. A leading candidate is climate change, which is widely believed to wreak havoc not just to the economy but also to the security of the planet. However, the evidence base for such beliefs is precarious. Scholars have failed to agree on any robust relationship between climate change and conflict. And the most recent report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the consequences of climate change does not provide a clear basis for alarmist predictions.Armed violence continues to present an urgent problem, as is seen notably in several ongoing conflicts in the Middle East. But research indicates that economic and political factors trump climatic ones in generating violence, and this is where countermeasures to violence should be focused. With regard to the social effects of climate change, other problems are probably more important than war. The main concern is simply uncertainty.
Mon, 16 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708872015-02-16T00:00:00ZGleditsch, Nils PetterRebooting the Cold War: Cultural Narratives of Triumphalism and Nostalgiahttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70886
Rebooting the Cold War: Cultural Narratives of Triumphalism and Nostalgia
von Eschen, Penny
The lecture will examine the stakes of U.S. policy makers and cultural producers' national and global discourses about the Cold War. Von Eschen argues that a conservative narrative about the Cold War was consolidated in the 1999-2000 George W. Bush campaign, and that this account of the Cold War fundamentally shaped American responses to the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. This narrative enabled the simultaneous exponential extension and privatization of government security and surveillance under the fears of terrorism and of an extended siege by an enemy.Triumphalist and nostalgic views of the Cold War were not simply top down inventions of politicians, academics, and pundits. To understand the development and deployment of Cold War stories, we must exit the realm of formal politics and ask how and why conservative stories about the Cold War gained traction within a broader public. The lecture investigates the stakes involved in Cold War memory and nostalgia through readings of multiple media representations of the past within intersecting sites of politics, journalism, and popular culture.
Thu, 05 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/708862015-02-05T00:00:00Zvon Eschen, PennyTransitions in Vernacular Religiosity: The Post-Soviet Casehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70335
Transitions in Vernacular Religiosity: The Post-Soviet Case
Povedak, Istvan; Povedak, Kinga
This workshop aims to introduce the changes and transformations of vernacular religiosity of Central and Eastern Europe in the past half-century. The first part of the lecture will focus on the religious circumstances of the Socialist era, the survival strategies of vernacular religiosity, the role of religious music as a countercultural practice. The second thematic part analyzes the transformations after 1989, the influx of transnational religious movements in the region such as the Pentecostal awakening among Romani groups and the “Neopagan-Christian war.” The aspects of religious transformations will be demonstrated through Hungarian case studies.
Mon, 02 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703352015-02-02T00:00:00ZPovedak, IstvanPovedak, KingaThe Sacralization of Nation: How Neonationalism Affects Vernacular Culture in Post-Socialist Hungaryhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70334
The Sacralization of Nation: How Neonationalism Affects Vernacular Culture in Post-Socialist Hungary
Povedak, Istvan
During the past decade, there has been a significant transformation in the way that certain Hungarian subcultures relate to their national consciousness. Beginning with the spread of some alternative historians' ideas on the mysterious origin of Hungarian people, numerous concepts connecting to neonationalism have appeared and gained increasing popularity. These concepts can be found not only in politics but in almost all segments of culture, from vernacular religion to festivals, from popular arts and music to the reinterpretation of historical heroes.
Thu, 12 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703342015-02-12T00:00:00ZPovedak, IstvanVernacular Religious Wars: The Battle of Sükösdhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70333
Vernacular Religious Wars: The Battle of Sükösd
Povedak, Istvan
This workshop will feature István Povedák, who will speak on vernacular religious wars. Conflicts between believers and the clergy arose in a small Hungarian village in 1993 when a woman claimed that Jesus appeared to her and asked her to serve as his messenger. Since then Marika, the visionary of Sükösd, has received messages from Jesus on every first Friday of the month. During these long rituals, the woman experiences the Stations of the Cross and relives the sufferings of Christ until she finally "dies" and falls unconscious. In the past two decades her "Golgotha" induced a remarkable pilgrimage from different parts of Hungary. Despite prohibition by Hungarian bishops, the chapel – built by Marika and her followers – is filled with pilgrims waiting for the message of Jesus mediated by the visionary.This lecture will examine the contrarily interpreted phenomena that generated significant tensions in the vernacular religiosity of Hungarian Roman Catholic believers. A central question of the lecture is how this movement has been incorporated in the "playground of pseudo-historians." Though the practice has taken on a neonationalist overtone, it has had little to no international attention.
Thu, 29 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703332015-01-29T00:00:00ZPovedak, IstvanThe Politics of the International Rule of Lawhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70332
The Politics of the International Rule of Law
Hurd, Ian
The international rule of law is often seen as a centerpiece of the contemporary international order. It is routinely reaffirmed by governments, scholars, and activists as the modern alternative to brute force. It is said to reduce violence, generate stability, and provide accountability, and that these benefits follow naturally when governments comply with rather than violate their legal obligations.Despite this popularity, however, the concept itself is rarely defined and its politics rarely explored. In this project Hurd considers the political implications of the turn to law in global politics. He examines the international rule of law as a political system, one which distributes power, authority, and obligation among actors. It defines the authority that constitutes states; it endows a language of political legitimation in the categories of lawful and unlawful state behavior; and it defines the parameters of responsibility and irresponsibility for the harms that arise from international acts. Hurd explores these effects across a series of recent disputes that show the distinction between legality and illegality is being constructed through judicial processes, legal interpretation, or power politics.
Wed, 28 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703322015-01-28T00:00:00ZHurd, IanThe Right to Exclude Immigrants and its Limitshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70331
The Right to Exclude Immigrants and its Limits
Watkins, David
This talk critically examines the normative foundations of the right to exclude prospective immigrants. On what grounds can such exclusion be justified? Watkins first argues that a new argument for the permissibility of such exclusions, the "associative ownership" (AO) account advanced by Ryan Pevnick in Immigration and the Constraints of Justice: Between Open Borders and Absolute Sovereignty, holds more promise than previous nationalist and freedom of association-based accounts. Advocates of AO note two clear exceptions to the right to exclude under this theory — refugees and the children of unauthorized migrants.Drawing on recent work by Rogers Smith, Watkins argues that AO must admit to a third category of exception: Those who are currently outsiders but whose identities have been shaped and constituted by past coercive political and economic decisions of the political community in question also have a legitimate demand for inclusion. AO should recognize this sort of exception, and recognize that national identity may be an inadequate sorting mechanism to determine who merits such an exception. Watkins concludes with some reflections on the problems generated by methodological nationalism for the evaluation of demands for exceptions to the right to exclude would-be immigrants.
Mon, 26 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703312015-01-26T00:00:00ZWatkins, DavidCross Border Troubles? Interstate River Conflicts and Intrastate Violencehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70330
Cross Border Troubles? Interstate River Conflicts and Intrastate Violence
Mitchell, Sara
Mitchell examines the relationship between interstate river conflicts and intrastate violence such as riots, strikes, demonstrations, and civil wars in the Western Hemisphere, Western Europe, and the Middle East. Interstate disagreements over cross-border river basins increase the potential for intrastate conflict by creating unequal access to water resources, displacing populations due to damming and diversion projects, and increasing demands for freshwater as population growth occurs.Mitchell finds that states that experience more interstate conflicts over shared river basins are at a higher risk for multiple forms of intrastate conflict, raising the risk of internal conflict by as much as 800 percent. Water quantity issues tend to be the strongest factor increasing domestic conflict, while navigational, water quality, and irrigation issues have little influence on civil conflict. Armed conflicts and civil wars are more likely to occur in situations of ethnic dominance when countries also contest water issues with their riparian neighbors.
Wed, 21 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703302015-01-21T00:00:00ZMitchell, SaraThe Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the History of Sovereigntyhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/70329
The Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and the History of Sovereignty
Smith, Leonard
This lecture will provide an introduction to Smith's monograph project on the locus and attributes of sovereignty and the peace conference that sought to close down the Great War. Smith begins at the conceptual level, but explaining sovereignty as a category of analysis. He then endeavors to show what a focus of sovereignty adds to an understanding of the historically specific international system that created the Paris Peace Conference and was created by it.
Tue, 20 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/703292015-01-20T00:00:00ZSmith, LeonardPresidential Elections in Brazil: Campaigns and Voting Decisionshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69751
Presidential Elections in Brazil: Campaigns and Voting Decisions
Telles, Mara
The objective of this talk is to analyze the behavior of Brazilian voters comparing two elections: 2010 and 2014. In 2010, Lula was the main cognitive shortcut to activate the elector of the current president Dilma Rousseff (Worker's Party). The results achieved by Marina Silva are still discussed, in which Pentecostal evangelical religion and the high mobility of its cognitive electorate are targeted as important for the success of the Green Party candidate.However, in the Brazilian context, election campaigns have a high capacity to influence voters without party identification, which are most of the national electorate. In an election scenario tended to be determined by the desire of moving, will Lula's prestige again activated for Dilma Rousseff to be re-elected in the 2014 elections? What were the characteristics of the campaigns and which variables may be stronger to determine the vote of the electors in 2014?
Tue, 18 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697512014-11-18T00:00:00ZTelles, MaraWinning and Losing the Great Game: Literature, Art, and Diplomacy between Russia and Iranhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69750
Winning and Losing the Great Game: Literature, Art, and Diplomacy between Russia and Iran
Brintlinger, Angela
An understanding of the historical relations between Iran, Georgia, Armenia and Russia is crucial for appreciating and navigating current political and cultural challenges in the region. The Russo-Persian Workshop will be devoted to looking closely at the relationship between imperial powers at their peak (1820s-1830s), some details of which still remain to be unearthed in archives across the region. Exploring the Russo-Persian relationship through cultural and artistic artifacts will shed light on diplomatic and cultural relations between two vital participants in the so-called "Great Game," Russia and Iran, and will contribute to an understanding of the region today.
Fri, 07 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697502014-11-07T00:00:00ZBrintlinger, AngelaVoting Amidst Economic Crisis: Southern Europe in a Comparative Perspectivehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69749
Voting Amidst Economic Crisis: Southern Europe in a Comparative Perspective
Gunther, Richard; Montero, José Ramón
The economic crisis in Southern Europe has led to the disintegration of the party system and the rise of a neo-fascist party in Greece, the emergence of a comedian and his anti-system movement as the third-largest party in the Italian parliament, and massive waves of protest in Spain. José Ramón Montero (Universidad Autónoma de Madrid) and Richard Gunther (Ohio State) will present analyses of voting behavior in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain in comparative perspective. These presentations will analyze data from national election surveys following the most recent and previous Southern European elections, with the contrasting analysis of voting behavior in times of economic normalcy based upon 19 elections in 15 countries on five continents.
Fri, 17 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697492014-10-17T00:00:00ZGunther, RichardMontero, José RamónChina Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflectionshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69748
China Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections
Lardy, Nicholas R.
China's rapid development and Sino-American relations have a direct impact on the lives of just about everyone in the United States. CHINA Town Hall: Local Connections, National Reflections is a national day of programming designed to provide Americans across the United States and beyond the opportunity to discuss these issues with leading experts. The eighth annual CHINA Town Hall will be held on October 16, 2014, at 7 p.m. The National Committee on United States-China Relations is pleased to present this program, which will feature a live webcast with President Carter, followed (or preceded) by local presentations from on-site China specialists addressing topics of particular interest to the community. Each program is co-sponsored by the National Committee and a local organization(s). CHINA Town Hall is generously underwritten by the Starr Foundation.
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697482014-10-16T00:00:00ZLardy, Nicholas R.Sustainable Pluralism: Linguistic and Cultural Resilience in Multiethnic Societieshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69747
Sustainable Pluralism: Linguistic and Cultural Resilience in Multiethnic Societies
Noyes, Dorothy; Joseph, Brian
Turning away from policy discourses of preservation, protection, and heritage, we look at the grassroots strategies by which minority languages and cultural practices are sustained in plural societies. Weak actors defend themselves and pursue their goals through the arts of accommodation, avoidance, and nichemaking. But cultural flourishing is not identical with human flourishing. How do the two intersect and diverge over time? Our international case studies come from Tibet, New Orleans, Mongolia, the Philippines, Greenland, Jewish Krakow, Russian Alaska, indigenous Honduras, Kyrgyzstan, the Lake Michigan Potawatomi, the Senegambian borderland, western China, and beyond.
Thu, 04 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697472014-09-04T00:00:00ZNoyes, DorothyJoseph, BrianThe Uses of Vietnam War: U.S. Policy and the Vietnam Analogyhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69732
The Uses of Vietnam War: U.S. Policy and the Vietnam Analogy
Lawrence, Mark
Mark Lawrence is associate professor of history and distinguished scholar at the Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. He received his B.A. from Stanford University in 1988 and his doctorate from Yale in 1999. After teaching as a lecturer in history at Yale, he joined the History Department at UT-Austin in 2000. Since then, he has published two books, Assuming the Burden: Europe and the American Commitment to War in Vietnam (University of California Press, 2005) and The Vietnam War: A Concise International History (Oxford University Press, 2008). Lawrence is also co-editor of The First Indochina War: Colonial Conflict and Cold War Crisis (Harvard University Press, 2007), Nation-States and the Global Environment: New Approaches to International Environmental History(Oxford University Press, 2013), and Beyond the Cold War: Lyndon Johnson and the New Global Challenges of the 1960s (Oxford University Press, 2014).He is now at work on a study of U.S. policymaking toward the developing world in the 1960s.
Fri, 14 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697322014-11-14T00:00:00ZLawrence, MarkGrounding Traffic: How the Cocaine Commodity Chain Embeds Spaces of Transithttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69731
Grounding Traffic: How the Cocaine Commodity Chain Embeds Spaces of Transit
McSweeney, Kendra
Illicit commodity flows are emerging from the shadows—increasingly recognized as a key part of neoliberal economic geographies. While sites of illicit commodity production and consumption gain greater attention, sites of transit—so crucial to the functioning of illicit trade networks—remain largely unexplored. In this presentation, I unpack the functioning of a single rural transshipment node in the global cocaine trade, tracing the ways in which cocaine transit embeds in the social and ecological worlds of eastern Honduras’ Moskitia region. Drawing from long-term research with communities there, I distinguish between ‘background’ agrarian dynamics and those directly related to the region’s rise as a trafficking hub post ca. 2006. I show how narco-rents are captured and laundered, and by whom, and review the implications of the study for scholarship on ‘land grabbing’ and the role of illicit capital in the development of rural peripheries worldwide.
Thu, 13 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697312014-11-13T00:00:00ZMcSweeney, KendraAestheticizing Action: Latino Republicans and the Art of Diversityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69730
Aestheticizing Action: Latino Republicans and the Art of Diversity
Beltrán, Cristina
Situated at the intersection of Latino politics and political theory, this talk will explore the paradoxical nature of Latino conservatism and right-wing Latinidad. Arguing that conservative thought within Latino communities is shaped not only by ideology but through a potent combination of emotion and expression, this talk shows how conservative Latino elites seek to engage Latino voters' aesthetic and affective sensibilities. Exploring how Latino political elites are currently articulating conservative theories of visibility, agency, and action, I argue that the Right's effort to aestheticize action highlights the importance of judgment when trying to understand the meaning of an enhanced Latino presence in the GOP.
Mon, 27 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697302014-10-27T00:00:00ZBeltrán, CristinaBack to the Future? Battlefield Nuclear Weapons in South Asiahttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69729
Back to the Future? Battlefield Nuclear Weapons in South Asia
McCausland, Jeff
Pakistan's decision to develop and deploy so-called "tactical nuclear weapons" is a new and dangerous development in South Asia. These weapons are in addition to the over 100 nuclear weapons in the Pakistani arsenal aimed at its historical enemy – India. Many experts believe this is part of a larger strategic effort by Pakistan to eventually become the third largest nuclear power after the United States and the Russian Federation. This could be a "game changer" in terms of the potential impact on crisis escalation and the possibility that a terrorist organization could acquire one of these smaller nuclear devices. It appears that this is motivated by a growing concern in Pakistan that it can no longer keep pace with India's expansion of its conventional forces and New Delhi’s adoption of a new doctrine – "Cold Start" or Proactive Operations. Where this might lead in terms of future weapons or doctrinal developments is unclear. Still former President Bill Clinton once described the border between India and Pakistan as the "most dangerous place on the planet Earth," and this development makes it more dangerous. It is imperative that the United States in concert with allies seek to dissuade Pakistan from this policy or at a minimum acquaints the Pakistani military with the potential problems that will undoubtedly occur.
Thu, 23 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697292014-10-23T00:00:00ZMcCausland, JeffClimate Change and National Securityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69728
Climate Change and National Security
White, Rear Admiral Jonathon
Climate change will have an impact on operations of the United States Armed Forces and the international events, both humanitarian relief efforts and arms conflicts, to which they respond. Rear Admiral Jonathan White will discuss the impacts of climate change on the U.S. Navy's operations as well as actions being taken to prepare for these changes.
Thu, 16 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697282014-10-16T00:00:00ZWhite, Rear Admiral JonathonIslamic Extremism in Northern Africa, Case Study: Nigeria and Boko Haramhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69727
Islamic Extremism in Northern Africa, Case Study: Nigeria and Boko Haram
Preble, Christopher; Kalu, Kelechi; Kobo, Ousman
This event will feature three panelists: Christopher Preble of the CATO Institute, and Kelechi Kalu and Ousman M. Kobo of The Ohio State University, who will discuss the rise of Islamic extremism in Northern Africa, with an emphasis on Nigeria and Boko Haram.
Tue, 14 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697272014-10-14T00:00:00ZPreble, ChristopherKalu, KelechiKobo, OusmanBasic Ingredients for Undergraduate Researchhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69726
Basic Ingredients for Undergraduate Research
Mughan, Anthony; Newell, Margaret; Carlarne, John
Please join a panel of Mershon Center affiliated faculty for an interdisciplinary discussion on the basic ingredients of a good undergraduate research project. This event is designed for students in Social and Behavioral Sciences and Humanities who want to know what research opportunities exist in their fields, how to develop an appropriate research question and methodology, and what foundation is needed to begin their research.
Tue, 07 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/697262014-10-07T00:00:00ZMughan, AnthonyNewell, MargaretCarlarne, JohnAccepting the Unacceptable: West Germany's Changing Border Policy, 1945-1990http://hdl.handle.net/1811/69561
Accepting the Unacceptable: West Germany's Changing Border Policy, 1945-1990
Atzili, Boaz
In this talk, Boaz Atzili seeks to bridge the gap in the literature by studying the case of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and its policy's coming to terms with its territorial losses post World War II. He concentrates on German land east of the Oder-Neisse line, which was annexed by Poland and Russia in the Potsdam Conference of 1945. In the early years of the FRG, both policy and public discourse strongly opposed the acknowledgment and acceptance of the new border. By the time of Germany's reunification in 1990, however, the opposite was true. Today, even the remnants of the territorial revisionists in Germany are careful not to pronounce their territorial positions publicly. The pendulum of Germany's border discourse has now swung to the other side: Germany accepted the unacceptable. Atzili uses this case study to develop a general theoretical argument about border politics in international relations, based on interaction between domestic politics and discourse, foreign policy, and international norms.
Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/695612014-10-06T00:00:00ZAtzili, BoazGeorgia: Why It Mattershttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69560
Georgia: Why It Matters
Gegeshidze, Archil
Archil Gegeshidze is the ambassador of Georgia to the United States, appointed in March 2013. Prior to that, he was a senior fellow at Georgia's renowned think tank, The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS). More than a decade of work at GFSIS was primarily related with research and training. Gegeshidze's professional expertise lay in the fields of regional security and co-operation in the South Caucasus and Euro-Atlantic integration. He is the author of numerous publications on Georgia's foreign and security policy and transformation of regional conflicts. Gegeshidze also lectured on globalization and development and provided training in policy analysis for young professionals and future leaders.
Thu, 02 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/695602014-10-02T00:00:00ZGegeshidze, Archil"But the Germans Didn’t Want Anything from Us": The Lessons and Legacies of World War II Slovene Collaborationhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69273
"But the Germans Didn’t Want Anything from Us": The Lessons and Legacies of World War II Slovene Collaboration
Kranjc, Gregor
Slovene collaboration with the Axis occupiers (Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Hungary) divided the Slovene nation during the years 1941-1945 and continues to cast its long shadow over Slovenia today. This talk highlights a number of the critical legacies of Slovene collaboration during World War II and identifies key lessons that the Slovene experience can offer to the wider, thematic study of collaboration with the enemy during a time of military occupation.
Wed, 01 Oct 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/692732014-10-01T00:00:00ZKranjc, GregorThe Challenge of China's Risehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69272
The Challenge of China's Rise
Christensen, Thomas
Christensen will be speaking about the challenges associated with China's rise.
Mon, 22 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/692722014-09-22T00:00:00ZChristensen, ThomasThe Scarcity Mindset and Its Consequenceshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69064
The Scarcity Mindset and Its Consequences
Shafir, Eldar
This talk will review some recent research into the psychology that emerges in contexts of scarcity, and the decisions -- occasionally commendable, often problematic -- that ensue. Some implications for thinking about scarcity (especially poverty) and for policy will be considered
Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/690642014-09-18T00:00:00ZShafir, EldarThe Crisis in Iraq: Causes, Consequences, and Options Going Forwardhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69063
The Crisis in Iraq: Causes, Consequences, and Options Going Forward
Mansoor, Peter; Sky, Emma
Following the withdrawal of U.S. troops in 2011, post-war Iraq has faced many challenges and threats that have led to the deterioration of the Iraqi state. Key causes and consequences of this deterioration include the rise of the Islamic State (formerly known at the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria), ineffectual leadership of the Al-Maliki government, and growing internal tensions between Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurdish denizens. This event will feature a discussion between Peter Mansoor of The Ohio State University and Emma Sky of Yale University regarding the situation in Iraq, key challenges, and options for U.S. policy going forward.
Thu, 11 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/690632014-09-11T00:00:00ZMansoor, PeterSky, EmmaWaging Peacehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/69062
Waging Peace
Andrle, Frederick; Jenkins, Craig; Gelpi, Christopher; Borland, Katherine; Carlarne, John
This event serves as an exploration of non-violent approaches to resolving international conflict. Panelists and guests will discuss the sources of military conflict and explore non-violent strategies designed to promote peace. The event will examine the impact of democracy, human rights, and trade on international peace-building, explore the impact of U.N. peacekeeping, and talk about grassroots peace and anti-intervention movements, exploring the intersections of activism and peace.
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/690622014-09-09T00:00:00ZAndrle, FrederickJenkins, CraigGelpi, ChristopherBorland, KatherineCarlarne, JohnClimate Change Risk Assessment: Is Adaptation a Workable Solution to Climate Change?http://hdl.handle.net/1811/69061
Climate Change Risk Assessment: Is Adaptation a Workable Solution to Climate Change?
Stewart, Mark
The climate change debate is often characterized by worst-case thinking, cost neglect, probability neglect, and avoidance of the notion of acceptable risk. Much of the climate change debate has focused on costly measures to reduce CO2 emissions. Climate adaptation, such as reducing vulnerability of infrastructure to extreme weather events, is much less costly, more effective in the short-term, and in many cases a sound investment even if climate projections turn out to be inaccurate.
Mon, 08 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/690612014-09-08T00:00:00ZStewart, MarkIndia's Recent Election & its Implications on Future Policymakinghttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61502
India's Recent Election & its Implications on Future Policymaking
Komarraju, Ravi
Ravi Komarraju will deliver a small guest lecture at the Mershon Center focusing on the recent election in India and its possible effects on Indian domestic and foreign policy.
Thu, 12 Jun 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/615022014-06-12T00:00:00ZKomarraju, RaviInterdisciplinary Studies of Political Behavior: From Election to Protestshttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61501
Interdisciplinary Studies of Political Behavior: From Election to Protests
Paxton, Pamela; Jenkins, Craig; Beck, Paul; Beaulieu, Emily; Crenshaw, Ed; Gunther, Richard; Hughes, Melanie; Maher, Tom; Nisbet, Erik; Slomczynski, Kazimierz; Tomescu-Dubrow, Irina
The conference brings together noted scholars in the fields of democracy, politics and protest, and cross-national methodology, to contribute – via lectures, presentations and discussions in a multidisciplinary forum – to our understanding of democracy and political participation around the world. The workshop is devoted to key technical issues of data comparability assessment following the harmonization of data from international public opinion survey projects.
Tue, 06 May 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/615012014-05-06T00:00:00ZPaxton, PamelaJenkins, CraigBeck, PaulBeaulieu, EmilyCrenshaw, EdGunther, RichardHughes, MelanieMaher, TomNisbet, ErikSlomczynski, KazimierzTomescu-Dubrow, IrinaUnderstanding al-Qaida's Grand Strategyhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61500
Understanding al-Qaida's Grand Strategy
Habeck, Mary
The war with al-Qaida is not over. Despite the best efforts of three U.S. presidents, the engagement of the world's most competent and effective militaries, and counter-terrorism campaigns supported and carried out by the international community, al-Qaida has grown in strength and reach over the past 20 years. How an organization without territory and without the institutions and protections of a nation-state has managed to thrive under constant pressure from almost every country on the globe demands explanation. It is also vital for our security that we understand al-Qaida’s likely future courses of action. While there are many ways to approach these critical issues, understanding the strategies used by al-Qaida not only to survive, but to flourish during the fight, is absolutely essential. Mary Habeck will address the key issue of al-Qaida's grand strategy, which is also the subject of her new book Attacking America: Al-Qaida's Grand Strategy (Basic Books, 2014).
Thu, 17 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/615002014-04-17T00:00:00ZHabeck, MaryCritical Foreign Policy Decisions: Continue or Change Course?http://hdl.handle.net/1811/61499
Critical Foreign Policy Decisions: Continue or Change Course?
Hermann, Charles
When government leaders have made major investments to a foreign or security policy, how do they respond to signals that the policy is failing? Exploration of four cases involving Lyndon Johnson (Vietnam), MacKenzie King (Canadian-U.S. free trade), Ariel Sharon (Israeli settlements), and George W. Bush (Iraq war) offer possible insights into critical factors hypothesized to influence their response.
Tue, 15 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/614992014-04-15T00:00:00ZHermann, CharlesInequality, Distributive Conflict and Regime Changehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61498
Inequality, Distributive Conflict and Regime Change
Haggard, Stephen
An important body of new work in comparative politics suggests a causal relationship between inequality, distributive conflict and changes both to and from democratic rule. However, we show that inequality does not appear to be associated with regime change. Moreover, the incidence of both democratic transitions and reversions to authoritarian rule that show signs of distributive conflict is small, accounting for less than half of all transitions during the "third wave" of democratization from 1980 to 2010. In this chapter of a book with Robert Kaufman, Haggard considers the role of social organization in distributive conflict transitions, contrasting them with transitions that occur in the absence of such conflict
Fri, 11 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/614982014-04-11T00:00:00ZHaggard, StephenThe Logic of Connective Action: Public Engagement in the Digital Agehttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61497
The Logic of Connective Action: Public Engagement in the Digital Age
Bennett, Lance
This presentation will explain the rise of personalized, large-scale publics in which diverse populations address the common problems of our times such as economic fairness and climate change. These episodes of mass engagement often entail diminished or modified roles for conventional organizations such as parties, NGOs, or movement groups that orchestrated most of political life in the 20th century. In some cases, formal brick and mortar organizations are almost absent, as in digitally mediated crowds such as Occupy Wall Street, in which dispersed local camps were coordinated through numerous technology platforms that enabled the flow of inclusive discourses such as "We Are the 99%." The talk explores how power is organized in these communication-based networks, how traditional media engage with them, and what political outcomes may result.
Mon, 07 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/614972014-04-07T00:00:00ZBennett, LanceThe Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary Worldhttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/61496
The Warrior State: Pakistan in the Contemporary World
Paul, T.V.
Paul shows that excessive war-making efforts have drained Pakistan's limited economic resources without making the country safer or more stable. The book offers a comprehensive treatment of Pakistan's insecurity predicament drawing from the literatures in history, sociology, religious studies, and international relations. It is the first book to apply the "war-making and state-making" literature to explain Pakistan's weak state syndrome. It also compares Pakistan with other national security states, Turkey, Egypt, Indonesia, Taiwan and Korea and their different trajectories.
Wed, 02 Apr 2014 00:00:00 GMThttp://hdl.handle.net/1811/614962014-04-02T00:00:00ZPaul, T.V.